Using Disney Gift Cards and Disney Vacation Account

[jtba]

Say I load 100 $50 Disney Gift Cards into my Disney Vacation Account to pay for my cruise, which brings the balance to $5,000. Then I end up canceling the cruise and cannot book another or go to WDW/Disneyland/Aulani/whatever, so I need to ask for a refund.

Does anyone know whether I need to keep all 100 gift cards so they can send me the refund individually (what a pain that would be!), or can they just load up five $1000 gift cards and call it a day?

 

[Bree]

From the DVA FAQ:

To request a partial or full refund of contributions made to your Disney Vacation Account to be returned to your original form of payment, please click here.

For further assistance, please call the Disney Vacation Account Service Center at (407) 939-7734.

Partial refunds are made to the original form(s) of payment, subject to a limit on the number of partial refunds (the current limit is 10 partial refunds). Full refunds may be made to the original form(s) of payment at any time. Please allow at least 3-4 days for us to process your refund. Your financial institution may need additional time to complete the transaction.

For more information, please read the Disney Vacation Account User Agreement.

https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/questions/#withdrawingRefundsFromMyAccount

 

[jtba]

Thanks. I did read that before posting. Perhaps it's just semantics, was just wondering whether "original form(s) of payment" really means all 100 gift cards, or can they load it into a small number, because they are still gift cards.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks. I did read that before posting. Perhaps it's just semantics, was just wondering whether "original form(s) of payment" really means all 100 gift cards, or can they load it into a small number, because they are still gift cards.

I'm going to go with "yes" it has to be the 100 original cards. I'm basing this on the fact that we had partially paid for a DCL cruise with gift cards. Then we had to cancel and rebook (better deal with *GT rate). They refunded the gift cards, individually, then we used them for our onboard account, since the new reservation had to be paid outright.

We had like $300 in $50 cards and one $200 gift card.

 

[WDWChloe]

I'm currently doing this for our cruise next year. I date and keep each giftcard in a trinket box to save just in case

 

[Bree]

I hope I don't have to cancel LOL

I have paid everything but the initial deposit for our 2015 cruise in gift cards. It is paid off and I'm working on our 2016 cruise now.

 

[ScubaMama]

I wonder if you can buy a gift card with a high dollar amount at a Disney Store or elsewhere with all the Target gift cards. It would be so much easier to make a pit stop to get 6 $500 cards rather than 30 $50 cards. Our cruise is in January and I paid with the vacation account. I paid the deposit with a credit card but the rest was with 30something cards that are now saved. I'm expecting a Florida Resident Rate to come out on Monday. I'm planning to get the deposit amount refunded in full and leaving the rest to pay for tips and Palo.

 

[jtba]

I wonder if you can buy a gift card with a high dollar amount at a Disney Store or elsewhere with all the Target gift cards.

I did call the Disney Store to see if I can do such a thing but sadly the CM said no. :\

I am hoping we won't have to cancel either. Just planning for the "what if" scenario.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wonder if you can buy a gift card with a high dollar amount at a Disney Store or elsewhere with all the Target gift cards. It would be so much easier to make a pit stop to get 6 $500 cards rather than 30 $50 cards. Our cruise is in January and I paid with the vacation account. I paid the deposit with a credit card but the rest was with 30something cards that are now saved. I'm expecting a Florida Resident Rate to come out on Monday. I'm planning to get the deposit amount refunded in full and leaving the rest to pay for tips and Palo.

No, Target Gift cards are only good at Target. And the Disney Gift cards available at Target only come in the $50 size.

 

[ocspartan]

I wonder if you can buy a gift card with a high dollar amount at a Disney Store or elsewhere with all the Target gift cards. It would be so much easier to make a pit stop to get 6 $500 cards rather than 30 $50 cards. Our cruise is in January and I paid with the vacation account. I paid the deposit with a credit card but the rest was with 30something cards that are now saved. I'm expecting a Florida Resident Rate to come out on Monday. I'm planning to get the deposit amount refunded in full and leaving the rest to pay for tips and Palo.

So I think you may have misunderstood, the target deal isn't based on buying target gift cards, it's using the target red card, which gives 5% off of qualified purchases, to buy disney gift cards.....

Buying target gift cards themselves are not eligible for 5% off. Target normally only stocks $50 cards, but on a recent run for cards I noticed $25 cards, most likely in prep for the holidays

 

[mareed]

No, Target Gift cards are only good at Target. And the Disney Gift cards available at Target only come in the $50 size.

I think they were asking about using the Disney gift cards purchased at Target in $50 increments to purchase a larger increment gift card at Disney Store. Sounds like the answer is no, but that was a good idea!

 

[starry_solo]

Say I load 100 $50 Disney Gift Cards into my Disney Vacation Account to pay for my cruise, which brings the balance to $5,000. Then I end up canceling the cruise and cannot book another or go to WDW/Disneyland/Aulani/whatever, so I need to ask for a refund.

Does anyone know whether I need to keep all 100 gift cards so they can send me the refund individually (what a pain that would be!), or can they just load up five $1000 gift cards and call it a day?

You'd have to keep all 100 gift cards. It will return to the original form of payment, which means the exact gift card that you used to pay.

There is no way to combine the gift cards into one (although some have posted that you can call the number on the back and, depending on the CM, may combine them, but that's a crapshoot.)

What happens if you lose the gift cards? Well, you can contact Disney to see if they can put the refund on a different gift card after telling them that you lost the original gift card

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You'd have to keep all 100 gift cards. It will return to the original form of payment, which means the exact gift card that you used to pay.

There is no way to combine the gift cards into one (although some have posted that you can call the number on the back and, depending on the CM, may combine them, but that's a crapshoot.)

What happens if you lose the gift cards? Well, you can contact Disney to see if they can put the refund on a different gift card after telling them that you lost the original gift card

Oh, and they refund the gift cards in the order of most recently posted first. So, if you have 100 gift cards that you pay on the reservation, and then only have 20 cards worth of refund, the 100th card that you used is the one that gets refunded first, then the 99th, etc.

 

[starry_solo]

Oh, and they refund the gift cards in the order of most recently posted first. So, if you have 100 gift cards that you pay on the reservation, and then only have 20 cards worth of refund, the 100th card that you used is the one that gets refunded first, then the 99th, etc.

I figured as much. Last in, first out, that sort of thing

 

[jtba]

All great info. Thanks, everyone!

 

[Bookwood]

I don't know if you can get large amounts on Gift Cards at a Disney Store, but our church does script and we can get $1000.00 cards through them. (it costs $1000.00 but the church gets a percentage.)
We paid off part of our Hawaiian cruise that way.

 

[ScubaMama]

I think they were asking about using the Disney gift cards purchased at Target in $50 increments to purchase a larger increment gift card at Disney Store. Sounds like the answer is no, but that was a good idea!

You're right! I meant using Disney gift cards cards purchased at Target. I shouldn't have said Target GCs. Good use of context clues though sinice I mentioned that I just PIF with them for my January cruise. :-D

 

[laceltris3]

I can get Disney gift cards that I can load up to $500 at Kroger. I have an Amex that give 5% back at grocery stores, so I do that because it is much easier to keep up with. If you have a card with everyday rewards like that, it is another option. I am getting better about buying amazon and other gcs there too.

 

[Sur]

How do you load gift cards into the Disney Vacation account? This is frustrating as it says you can, but I'm unable.

 

[mollyclairesmom]

How do you load gift cards into the Disney Vacation account? This is frustrating as it says you can, but I'm unable.

Choose "Make a one time contribution" from the menu on the left side of the page, and you'll have the option to select a gift card as your method of payment.